<p><strong>BASED ON FRANK O&rsquo;CONNOR&rsquo;S BIOGRAPHY OF MICHAEL COLLINS</strong></p>

<p>Dra&iacute;ocht audiences will be treated to a once-off sneak preview of Declan Gorman&#39;s much-anticipated new play prior to its world premiere at the 2016 Drogheda Arts Festival.</p>

<p>With original sound design by ex-Waterboys composer, Colin Blakey,The Big Fellow&nbsp;is a&nbsp;non-stop, edge-of-your-seat theatrical adventure,&nbsp;laced with humour and scenes of daring and intrigue.</p>

<p>It presents&nbsp;the&nbsp;compelling story&nbsp;of&nbsp;Michael Collins: his&nbsp;rise from&nbsp;unknown volunteer&nbsp;in the GPO to military leader who brought down an empire&nbsp;only to meet his untimely death at the hands of former comrades.</p>

<p>Much more than a&nbsp;straightforward&nbsp;dramatisation of the life of a hero, however, this is&nbsp;also&nbsp;the story of&nbsp;his biographer, the literary genius&nbsp;Frank O&rsquo;Connor,&nbsp;who witnessed traumatic scenes as a timid adolescent&nbsp;soldier fighting against Collins and is now&nbsp;seeking to&nbsp;make reparation.</p>

<p>As The Big Fellow is conjured to unruly and mischievous life by his writer,&nbsp;the epic tale of the birth of a nation&nbsp;is re-lived&nbsp;by&nbsp;both men: the one&nbsp;who survived it and came to understand the disappointment that inevitably follows the dream and the&nbsp;tragic hero&nbsp;who perished in his effort to broker a waking compromise.<br />
<br />
Presented by Co-Motion&nbsp;Media&nbsp;In association with Drogheda Arts Festival.<br />
Original music by Colin Blakey.&nbsp;Script developed with the support of The Abbey Theatre.<br />
Dur 2hrs 15mins (inc interval) / Age 13+</p>

<p><em>&quot;Frank O&rsquo;Connor is doing for Ireland what Chekhov did for Russia.&quot;&nbsp;</em>William Butler Yeats</p>

<p><em>&quot;Declan Gorman writes and directs with an innate knowledge of theatre and a mastery of vernacular language.&quot;</em>&nbsp;The Irish News</p>
